University Professor Sakhidad Sangin Released from Taliban Detention in Badakhshan

On Wednesday, the Taliban spokesperson said in a statement that the group does not create any obstacles to the activities of the United Nations in Afghanistan.

He emphasised that banning female staffers of the United Nations to work does not mean that there will be discrimination against the United Nations’ activities in Afghanistan.

The Taliban spokesperson stated that the group is committed to the rights of all Afghan citizens taking into consideration the religious and cultural values of the Taliban.

Zabihullah Mujahid added, "Given the emergency situation in Afghanistan, it is necessary for the member states of the United Nations to resolve the issue of freezing Afghan assets, banking, travel restrictions, and other restrictions so that Afghanistan can progress in the economic, and political and security areas.”

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement on Tuesday said that it has initiated an operational review period in Afghanistan till May 5 following the Taliban’s ban on women working at UN offices.

It stated that the review will be done under the supervision of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA Roza Otunbayeva.

During the review period, the UN in Afghanistan will conduct the necessary consultations, make required operational adjustments, and accelerate contingency planning for all possible outcomes.

UNAMA added that it will, however, try to maintain principled and constructive engagement with all possible levels of the Taliban even during this review period.

Employees working at UN offices, both men and women, have been instructed not to report to work, except for some emergency tasks.

The United Nations has warned that millions of Afghan citizens will face famine, death, and disease if funds are not provided immediately.

OCHA had previously too warned about the lack of sufficient funding to support humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

The organisation also said that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is likely to worsen in 2023.

OCHA had previously announced that it had prepared a 4.6-billion-dollar humanitarian aid plan for Afghanistan.

According to the UN agency, Afghanistan is the largest humanitarian activity of OCHA in the world.

On the other hand, the Taliban's recent decision to ban Afghan women from working in the United Nations has made it difficult for these agencies to operate in Afghanistan.

The statement of the US State Department said, "West is conducting outreach in the region to secure input as the international community seeks solutions to Afghanistan’s compounding challenges, made worse by the Taliban’s recent decisions to limit women’s participation in humanitarian operations and ban them from their vital work for the UN.”

According to the US state department, in Istanbul, West will hold consultations with Afghan political leaders, journalists, humanitarian professionals, and human rights activists.

There is no further explanation of the details of these consultations with the Afghan political leaders in particular.

Wenbin added that China supports the “Afghan interim government” to achieve stability and development.

The fourth round of meetings of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbouring countries will be held on Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

It is expected that the foreign ministers of Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to participate in the Samarkand meeting.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson stressed that his country expects the participants to widely discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Wenbin added that China supports the Taliban government to overcome the security challenges and poor economic situation in Afghanistan, but at the same time, "it pays attention to the legitimate concerns of the world [about the Taliban] and wishes to see a more favourable condition for the development of relations between Afghanistan and neighbouring countries”.

According to him, China wants to see Afghanistan as a part of regional economic cooperation.

China has continuously supported the Taliban in the meetings of the United Nations Security Council.

This is the second time that the university professor has been detained by the Taliban.

According to the sources, the Taliban officials stormed Sangin’s room in 2022 during which they searched his room, beat him up, and confiscated his mobile phone and computer.

The sources also added that the Taliban has access to information about Sangin through his electronic devices.

It has been said that the Taliban has access to Sangin's mobile phone and use his social media accounts to contact his friends.

People close to Sangin's family said that the Taliban first filed a case against Sangin using information from his phone and computer, based on which he had been questioned by the Ministry of Higher Education.

However, on Sunday, Taliban intelligence arrested this university professor when he was on his way home. Sangin's relatives said that his family did not know about his fate for 72 hours and during this time, the Taliban tortured the university professor.

Sakhidad Sangin is an Ismaili Hazara and a resident of Baghlan province. The university professor has been a critic of the Taliban’s ban on the education of girls and women in Afghanistan.